Are you a colorist who wants to have an impressive looking color grading panel but you can’t afford the cost of a full $30,000 Davinci Resolve Advanced control surface? Do you have a set of Tangent Element panels that you’d like to give a cozy home? Then the Rageboard might be just for you.
If you remember our Tangent Element review, the Element it’s a modular color grading panel system that will set you back some $3500 for all four pieces. The Rageboard is a wooden chassis that brings the Element panels together along with a keyboard, tablet and powered USB hub to make what looks to be a rather professional color grading panel at a fraction of the cost of the big ones. I’ve never seen one in person but Rageboards were sprinkled around IBC 2015 so maybe they’ll be back at IBC this year if you’re at the show and want to see one. The Rageboard comes from the German company Angry Face. Their website says “grading gear” so we might see more unique products out of them in the future.
The Rageboard is a cool idea and looking through the internet a bit you can see it take shape.
A 2014 post on Lift Gamma Gain shows the woodworking in progress. Another shot from Video and Filmmaker shows a Rageboard up on two sawhorses. A first question might be why wood and not plastic as that’s a more common construction material for this type of thing but the Rageboard FAQ answers that question as well as many others. I think I would prefer wood over plastic as a good woodworker can do wonders to create a beautiful piece. Well crafted wood products have a feel to them you just can’t get from plastic.
The cost for the Rageboard is 2.900,00 € (currently that’s $3284.11 according to Google). If you’re in the EU there is a bundle of the Rageboard and an Element set for 5.500,00 €. There are a number of add-ons you can purchase as well such as placeholder plates and Wacom pen holders but even with some options you’re still under $10,000 for the Rageboard, the Element, your Wacom and a keyboard. That’s not a bad price if you’re setting up a dedicated color grading suite and want both the cachet and utility of a high-end grading panel. Plus there is an IBC discount that will run from September 9 to the end of September with 300 € off.
Since we’re talking the Tangent Element here remember that the Element system doesn’t have to be used with Resolve so you could have this imposing looking panel as you’re grading in SCRATCH or even Adobe Premiere Pro. I doubt the Rageboard will be anything a part-time colorist would invest in but if you are a full-time colorist or you have a facility with a dedicated color room then the Rageboard just might take the feeling of that room, and maybe the productivity of the colorist working in there, to a whole new level.
And Rageboard isn’t the only one
While researching the Rageboard I came across another similar enclosure for the Elements called the HHi One. It’s from a UK company and looks very similar.
There’s not a lot of information on the HHi One website and I didn’t see any pricing but according to this forum thread the cost is similar to the Rageboard. I’m not sure if it’s shipping or not but you can get a bit more information here or contact the company.